On February 7, 2009, AAII’s Founder/Chairman was honored for his spiritual leadership and humanitarian work during the Nasrul Ilm America, Inc. First Annual Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA) Honoring Banquet. The banquet was held at Windows Over Harlem Restaurant in the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in the Village of Harlem in New York City.

The Keynote Address was delivered by Shaykh Mouhammadou Mahy Cisse, Director of AAII’s international Islamic Schools Program, beloved brother of Shaykh Hassan Cisse(RA) and one of his closest companions, during which he spoke about Shaykh Hassan’s (RA) love of Islam and generosity.

An Awards Ceremony was held to honor individuals who served Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA) for the Sake of Allah by helping him to establish the Tariqa Tijaniyya in America as far back as 1976 and for working to fulfill AAII’s mission. Recipients of a Certificate of Appreciation for Pioneering Service that reads, ” In recognition of your devotion, dedication and service to Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA)” include: Alhajji Ahmad Dimson (RA), Imam Yusuf Imam (RA), Imam Sayed Abdus-Sallaam, Alh. Abdul Azeem Shabazz, Alh. Abdul Majid Muhammad, Alh. Amin Sharif, Alh. Mustafa Abdul-Azeem, Alh. Babacar Konte, Alh. Aboubacar Cisse, Hajja Kareema Abdul-Kareem and Hajja Ashaki Taha-Cisse.

Shaykh Hassan Cisse’s (RA) humanitarian work as the Founder/Chairman of AAII was presented by Hajja Ashaki Taha-Cisse in a speech that reviewed the organization’s accomplishment under his (RA) leadership in the twenty two years since it was founded. AAII’s commitment to universal education, access to health care, empowerment of women, protection of children, alleviation and extreme hunger and poverty and promotion of peace, and its successful initiatives in each aspect of its mission and the pivotol role Shaykh Hassan Cisse (RA) played in them were recounted.

Many of Shaykh Hassan Cisse’s (RA) American students from New York, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, Colorado, as well as those originally from Ghana, Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania now living in the U.S., and the well wishes of those who were unable to attend from the United States, Trinidad and various countries in Africa, bore witness to the extraordinary life and great work of this extraordinary man.

*(RA) indicates a person is deceased and means, “May God be pleased with him.”